title: Correlation between conjunctival provocation test (CPT) and systemic allergometric tests in allergic conjunctivitis.
abstract: In order to assess the potential usefulness of CPT as a diagnostic tool for ocular allergy, the correlation between skin/RAST tests and CPT was determined in 144 patients affected by allergic 'hay fever' type conjunctivitis. The results showed that an agreement between skin/RAST tests and CPT occurred in 71% of the cases (130/183). Of the 29% uncorrelated cases, 23% (43/183) were positive for at least one specific antigen by skin/RAST tests but not by CPT, while 6% (10/183) were positive for at least one specific antigen by CPT, but not by skin/RAST tests. CPT dramatically increased the histamine levels in tears (p less than 0.001). These findings show that (1) systemic tests can be misleading in that they may suggest a specific sensitisation which, in fact, does not involve the conjunctiva (systemic test positive/CPT negative); (2) CPT can identify local conjunctival sensitisation in the absence of a systemic sensitisation (systemic test negative/CPT positive); (3) CPT can demonstrate that allergic 'hay fever' type conjunctivitis may be related to allergens different from those responsible for a systemic sensitisation.
authors.affiliation: Regional Centre for the Diagnosis and the Treatment of Inflammatory Eye Diseases, University of Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leonardi
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Fregona
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gismondi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Daniotti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carniel
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Secchi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens; D002648:Child; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000276:immunology; D003233:Conjunctivitis, Allergic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006632:Histamine / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000032:analysis; D007159:Immunologic Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011852:Radioallergosorbent Test; D012882:Skin Tests; D013666:Tears / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D006632:Histamine